Icelandic State Park
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Icelandic State Park
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 Tongue River in the Gunlogson State Nature Preserve, part of Icelandic State Park |
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| location | Pembina County in North Dakota (USA) | |
| surface | 81 ha | |
| Geographical location | 48 ° 47 ' N , 97 ° 45' W | |
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| Setup date | February 13, 1980 | |
| administration | North Dakota Parks and Recreation Dept. | |
The Icelandic State Park is a state park in Pembina County of the US state North Dakota which has existed since February 13, 1980 . Except for the south bank, the 81 hectare reserve encloses Lake Renwick, which is 297 m above sea level . The next larger town is Cavalier, about 7 km to the east . The Eiyofsen State Wildlife Management Area is only a few kilometers away to the south, the much larger Tongue River State Wildlife Management Area to the west and the Clifford State Wildlife Management Area to the north .
The protection purpose includes both the preservation of the cultural heritage within the framework of the settlement history of the Icelandic immigrants from the 19th century and the protection of nature and landscape in the embedded Gunlogson State Nature Preserve on the banks of the Tongue River . The North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department in Bismarck is responsible for the administration .
history
Between 1870 and 1914, around 17,000 people left Iceland, around 15% of the population, to flee the economic hardship exacerbated by the eruption of the Askja volcano in 1875 , which poisoned the pastures in the east of the island in the North Atlantic. The first settlement in the US was on Washington Island, later settlements in Minnesota and North Dakota were added, and finally in Washington. However, they did not settle in Canada in the fertile area between Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg , because Methodist investors made sure that they moved further north. Governor General Lord Dufferin intervened in favor of the Icelanders, since he had been convinced of their "moral suitability" since visiting the island in 1856. On September 25, 1875, 270 Icelanders left Toronto to travel to the promised area. They took the railroad to Sarnia on the southern Huron Sea , then on the Ontario across the lake, crossed the Upper Lake and reached Duluth , where 13 other Icelanders joined them. Then the Northern Pacific went to the Red River . Then they drove with the International from Dakota to Winnipeg. Sigtryggur Jonasson, who acted as Canada's first Icelandic settlement agent, recruited more settlers in Iceland. In 1876 he brought around 800 Icelanders to America. That same summer, another 400 Icelanders came to Gimli on Lake Manitoba, and finally another 19 settlers. Even if the figures do not exactly match, around 1200 Icelanders should have reached the region within one year.
But the community suffered from cold, hunger, smallpox and had been lured by false promises to areas that were not very suitable for their way of living and doing business. Of the 1500 Icelanders, around 150 to 160 died. In 1878, most Icelanders wanted to emigrate, which was exacerbated by religious disputes. The two reverends fighting each other were Thorlakson and Bjarnson. Thorlakson gave up the settlement on the island of Hecla in Lake Manitoba (see Hecla-Grindstone Provincial Park ). 132 families, on the other hand, preferred to stay with Bjarnson because, according to Icelandic tradition, he wanted to look after his congregation even without a job (despite theological training). This had been sharply criticized by Thorlakson, on whose side 142 families stood, who adhered to the more fundamentalist and exclusive Norwegian teachings, which the Reykjavikers rejected. His group moved south to North Dakota in 1880, where Icelandic State Park is now. Thorlakson held a first service in the new colony on December 5, 1878, and later became a pastor on a modest wage. He died on March 1, 1882 and recommended Hans Thorgrimsen as his successor. At the funeral, an Icelander had to translate the Norwegian pastor's words. Thorlakson is considered the "father" of the Icelandic colony, even if some feared for the Icelandic core of the colony, as he had such strong ties to the Norwegian Synod. The first church owned by the Icelandic community was built in Mountain in 1884.
Other Icelandic colonies in Wisconsin and Minnesota heard this. Thorlakson's father, Thorlakur Jonsson and three brothers lived in Wisconsin. They moved from Shawano to Pembina and acquired land in 1879. There the place Mountain was created. Another six families followed in 1880, and a post office was established in 1881. The new settlers had learned how to cultivate the land from their Norwegian neighbors, and from 1881 the so-called Sandhills in the north could also be settled. The weakened settlers from Canada, who often had insufficient supplies, were supported by Thorlakson's Norwegians; he also managed to get cattle. The trader Harald Thorson provided the settlers with machines, seeds and cattle on credit for ten years, but many of them were unable to pay the debts. But the Icelanders had a very good payment behavior, and so people were happy to lend them to them, often on more favorable terms.
In 1882 Pembina County was given a new status so that the former Danish subjects were now allowed to vote. The most important and best-endowed position was that of assessor, who had to assess all objects and all other possessions in and around the houses, so that taxation could take place on this basis. But it was not only in this respect that the colony differed from the Canadian New Iceland. The colony was not purely Icelandic, as other ethnic groups such as Norwegians, Germans and Americans also lived there. The Icelandic pastor called a meeting from January 23-25, 1885, which prompted the establishment of the Icelandic Evangelical Lutheran Cross-Border Synod in America , which met on June 24, 1885 in Winnipeg. In 1885 the Icelandic Lutheran Church was built in Pembina .
1879–80 the first newspaper appeared in Gardar, the third Icelandic settlement. The Fjalla Eyvindur was published twice a month and written by hand, but the production was too time-consuming, so that the sheet went down just as it did in Manitoba. On February 4, 1888, a cultural society came into being, which not only dedicated itself to Icelandic culture, but also to the spread of free thinking and technical knowledge. The free speech and thought, however, led to conflicts with the Synod on religious issues. In addition, six reading societies were established by 1889. In 1887, Niels Steingrimur Thorlaksson, the theologian trained in Norway and brother of the colony father, was the first permanent pastor to join the parish (until 1894).
By 1900 Icelanders no longer married to a large extent, so mixed marriages were common. Icelandic immigration ended in 1914. Latecomers often noticed the Canadianization or Americanization of settlers who had arrived a generation earlier. Some tried to maintain the bond with Iceland, so that Iceland days were held in Minnesota on August 2 as early as 1874. In addition to the poor language skills of the first generation, the fact that Iceland was ruled by Denmark and that political activity was extremely unfamiliar contributed to the low level of interference in American politics to which they were almost invited. At the same time, the communities of Canada and the United States diverged, especially since they divided religious differences. During the First World War, over 1200 Icelanders of the following generations fought, so that here too, in addition to the language, the increasing assimilation of the Icelanders was evident. Today Icelandic is still spoken in some communities between Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba, then in Wynyard in northern Saskatchewan, but also in Pembina County in northern Dakota. In 1986, of the almost 15,000 Canadians of Icelandic origin, 305 spoke the corresponding mother tongue, 800 had grown up with Icelandic and English. In 1931 there were 19,382 living in Canada, 7,413 in the USA, in 1961 these numbers were 30,623 and 8,669; In 2001, 26,480 Canadians again stated an Icelandic background, where they speak Icelandic even more often than in the USA. There is hardly any Icelandic spoken there, except in Mountain.
Infrastructure
In addition to the tourist facilities on the north bank with overnight accommodation, there are also picnic areas and boat ramps. Pike and other edible fish can be caught in the pent-up Lake Renwick, and swimming and boating are also permitted. Other recreational activities include hiking, biking or visiting the Pioneer Heritage Center and the restored historic buildings of the early Icelandic settlers, the Gunlogson Homestead site, and nature viewing at the Gunlogson State Nature Preserve. Opposite the entrance to the Pioneer Heritage Center is the Pembina County Historical Society Museum , which is operated by the Pembina County Historical Society. For this purpose, the company has leased part of the state park site, which includes historic buildings.
Flora and fauna
Below the dam, the Tongue River meanders through the Gunlogson State Nature Preserve, which can be divided into several plant communities and habitats. A total of over 200 plant species have been recorded in the area.
In Lowland Woodland Linden, form American elm and hartholzige metrosideros (Ironwood) , the canopy of the forest. While elm trunks with a diameter of 50 cm stand north of the river, the elm stands are marked by the symptoms and consequences of Dutch elm disease ; most of the specimens are thinner or have already died. In the shrub layer, the beaked hazel thrives on the permeable soil.
On both sides of the River Tongue Valley, at the upper edges of the valley, there are bands of Oak Woodland with bur oaks , aspens, paper birches and herbaceous plants .
The Tongue River is ascribed a high biological value as a river system. As a spring-fed body of water, it has changing water flow and often only low water, but without falling completely dry. The sediment load is deposited in the reservoir, and so the Tongue River below the lake can develop a more erosive effect, so that areas with open soils often arise, which are then populated by pioneer plants.
The largest species density is found in the wetland thicket basins with dense vegetation and waterlogged soils all year round . For some species, the location is already outside their usual range.
literature
- Jónas Thor: Icelanders In North America. The First Settlers , University of Manitoba Press 2002, pp. 163-179 (on Icelanders in Dakota).
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.ndparks.com/parks/icelandic-state-park
- ↑ http://www.ndparks.com/parks/gunlogson-state-nature-preserve
- ↑ Gunnar Karlsson: The History of Iceland , University of Minnesota Press 2000. According to other information there were 15,000 between 1873 and 1914, so Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir: North American Icelandic. The Life of a Language , University of Manitoba Press 2006, pp. 13f.
- ↑ The Askja .
- ↑ Jónas Thor: Icelanders in North America. The First Settlers , University of Manitoba Press 2002, Chapter 5, p. 81.
- ↑ On the religious division of the Icelandic community cf. Erla Louise Colwill Anderson: Tolerance, intolerance, and fanaticism, WD Valgardson's reaction to the religious debate in New Iceland , University of Manitoba 2000.
- ↑ Jónas Thor: Icelanders in North America. The First Settlers , University of Manitoba Press 2002, pp. 166f.
- ↑ The figures from: Birna Arnbjörnsdóttir: North American Icelandic. The Life of a Language , University of Manitoba Press 2006, pp. 13-15.
- ↑ http://www.parkrec.nd.gov/parks/isp/isp.html
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.parkrec.nd.gov/parks/isp/nature.html
